After having been gone from the mountain for a few days, Aguta had eventually made her way back but only because there was still at least some touch of loyalty remaining within her. But since her return, she had not seen hide nor hair of the cousin she had been ordered to remain with. She hadn’t bothered with tending to the scent markers that she had so diligently placed along the base of the mountain because, honestly, it didn’t seem to matter all that much to her anymore. With her cousin seemingly missing, the large woman saw no reason to be bothered with much of anything at this point. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if she was going to bother remaining on this mountain to wait for her cousin’s return. She wasn’t the same pathetic creature that she had been when she graced the doorstep of her aunt so long ago.

Disappointment coursed through her body as she sought solitude in the shadows of the mountain. Unmoving, she watched from afar of the creature that came toward the mountain, taking notice that the wolf paused for but a brief moment at the dying scented borders. For a time, Aguta kept herself in the shadows. Her coloring hiding her perfectly, especially her natural (or unnatural?) stripes that littered her fur here and there. After several minutes passed, allowing the stranger to continue making her way up the side of the mountain, Aguta emerged from her hiding place. Without a word, the large female fell into step beside, but not too near, the stranger. Her tail was only slightly raised, but not in an aggressive manner. Now, had her cousin not gone missing in action, this could very well have been different entirely.

Although she’d been unsure if the stranger would go on the defense, or if she would welcome the company, even if remotely. Aguta did take notice that the other woman didn’t flinch when the large woman fell into step beside her and, for the time being, that was a good thing. Aguta was lonely and craved the company of others, even to the point of basically soliciting it from a complete stranger. This would probably have had a different start were her cousin not missing and the borders still held fresh markings.

“Since the day I arrived on this mountain,” she answered the question asked of her. It was eerie sometimes, feeling the ghosts of past upon the mountain, especially since she knew nothing about the past that revolved around it. “Sometimes I can hear them. Can you hear them?” Aguta cast a sideways glance to the other female, taking in everything about her face, including the vibrant color of her eyes. She didn’t feel threatened in the least by the presence of this woman, nor did she feel as though she had to go on the defense. This was not something that Aguta allowed herself to feel easily.

It was strange for her to even remotely consider the company of a stranger like this, but loneliness was a terrible thing, driving one to do things that they just normally would not do, such as now. A silent nod of agreement was given. She hadn’t thought of it like that before, that the ghosts of the mountain sounded like the wind, but it made sense. It was definitely something to absolutely consider, though, and something she would quite likely give some more in depth thought to once she was entirely alone again because that was inevitable.

A slight shudder ran down Aguta’s spine at the thought of actually seeing the ghosts of the mountain. Granted, she sometimes saw Sos but, in her opinion, that was something entirely different, but was it really all that different? “Aguta Tartok,” she gave her name in return. When she had first abandoned her family name given to her by birth, it had been a little weird and she would occasionally forget, using her Kesuk name. But over the prior two years, it was no longer something she accidentally reverted to. Tartok was her name. Tartok was what she was, through and through. There was no doubt about that in her mind at all.

She continued to climb the side of the mountain by Muirrin’s side. “What guidance do you seek from the ghosts of this mountain?” she inquired, wondering if that was a question that was too bold or not.

Having traveled up and down this very mountain almost every single day since her cousin had selected it as their home, Aguta was unfazed by climbing it now. For the last two years, she had traveled up and down steep mountain sides, fully recovered from her tumble down the Tartok mountain (save for a slight limp that would never go away) and succeeded in overcoming the fear of the mountain that her fall had instilled into her. The scarred female was definitely physically fit, that much was certain.

She remained silent while the other female answered her question. For a bit, Aguta wasn’t certain that Muirrin was going to actually answer. When she did begin to answer, the scarred female remained silent, listening. At the moment, it was just the two of them, not including the spirits of old. That meant that Muirrin had Aguta’s absolutely undivided attention, which was a good thing. “But why the spirits of this mountain?” she further inquired. “Are there not spirits on the other mountains in the area? Or is it because this is the tallest?” Aguta knew that if her cousin wasn’t missing, this hike wouldn’t be happening. But since her cousin was missing, Aguta had no problem taking this walk with this stranger.